Bright Lights, Big City

After we got back to the hotel room, we decided to have a low key night, and save our energy (and money) for the weekend. So we walked around Shinjuku, enjoyed the neon lights, and called it a night.

We woke up the next morning at ten, and hit the ground running. We started off with a walking tour of Shinjuku, and saw some pretty cool architecture. We also found a foreign language bookstore and bought a Tokyo guide, which has come in handy all ready so it was a good buy. While in Shinjuku we went to the "golden gai" which is 4 small blocks full of bars, that only sit about 6-10 people each. I thought it was really cool.

After we had thoroughly explored Shinjuku we caught the Yamanote line, and headed to Harujuku! Harajuku has a way different vibe than Shinjuku and it surrounded by a beautiful park. We visited the Meji Shine, which was very ummmm large. After all the shrines, and temples we have seen on this trip, it really didn't stand out.

The park was well shaded with ancient Japanese cypress trees, and I am excited to go back there on Sunday to gawk at the Harujuku girls. From there we explored Harajuku street, which reminded me of St. Marks Street in NYC. Basically thousands of high schoolers all running to what they think are trendy shops. After a quick Bento lunch we made our way to the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art. It ended up being an exhibition of one artists work, who I didn't like at all. Even Jed was disappointed, so we didn't stay for too long.

Went back to the hotel, showered, and went to dinner. We may or may not have eaten more sushi for dinner. From dinner we went to see Harry Potter! It was different seeing it with a Japanese audience, because they didn't laugh at the funny parts, but they got really scared at the "scary" parts. The girl next to Jed had to close her eyes for like 10 minutes. Which in itself is pretty funny. After the movie we head back to "Golden Gai" and decided not to drink there. They charge you at least 500Y just to sit down, and the drinks are really expensive.

So walking to the next bar we saw some fellow travelers, and we all went to get drinks together. The night got really fun from there, we drank, swamped our tales of traveling, and attempted to talk to Japanese girls. We met a few who spoke a little English, and we went with the to Roppongi for more drinks and dancing. I was wearing tevas, so I had to buy shoes before I could go in. Thankfully there was a dollar store next door, but although cheap they biggest size shoe they had was 3 sizes to small! Needless to say my dogs were barking by the end of the night. It was an awesome night, but we stayed out too late, and had to take a 30 dollar taxi home because the trains stop running. Which is kind of a good problem to have.